Akhilesh Yadav: Man who turned SP's wheel
"After six months of hard work, it looks like Delhi has suddenly
discovered me." Akhilesh Yadav laughs at the compliment that he has
suddenly become the new darling of the media-the other crown prince of
Avadh. Midway through the Uttar Pradesh polls , with the signs of a
Samajwadi Party (SP) resurgence, there is a feverish interest in the
brand new young netaji. As late as November 2011, opinion polls had
begun to suggest that anti-incumbency would take a toll on the Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) but no one was certain who would occupy the space
vacated. The Congress was making a determined bid to construct a major
political triumph for Rahul Gandhi and his Mission Uttar Pradesh. Its
surprising performance in the 2009 Lok Sabha when the Congress won 21
MPs from the state had fuelled the party's hopes. Rahul had topped it up
with carefully programmed visits laden with special packages from the
Centre. SP, in contrast, looked lumbered with an ageing leadership, the
legacy of having taken several anti-modern positions like rejecting
computers, an antediluvian commitment to eradicating English and a
Luddite aversion to machines, problems which seemed almost certain to
sabotage any form of recovery.
But equally, Akhilesh had been
working on a change of image for sp, down to even riding the latest
model of bicycles. Free laptops to students were promised in the
manifesto and computers introduced at the party office despite
old-timers scoffing in disgust, "Ab kya party computers se chalegi?
(Will the party be run by computers now?)" Professionals, instead of
musclemen, were given tickets. The symbols of Goonda Raj were removed.
The politically incorrect muscleman D.P. Yadav was denied a ticket even
though his case was sponsored by party stalwarts like SP chief Mulayam
Singh Yadav's brother Shiv Pal Yadav. These were Akhilesh's baby steps
in leadership. Then suddenly, by the beginning of the actual campaign,
he began to evoke a positive reaction. To the surprise, if not shock, of
observers, he became the modern face of Uttar Pradesh, a place that
Rahul had hitherto occupied all by himself.
After the first two
rounds of polling, Akhilesh managed to pose a real threat to the
Congress recovery. Three things happened as a result. First, Rahul said
he would not support sp. Second, the Congress began to attack Akhilesh
directly as it saw the Muslim vote slipping away. Third, Congress leader
Digvijaya Singh said the party would prefer President's Rule if the
Congress could not form the government. As a reaction, Akhilesh became
more vocal in his responses to Rahul. The SP scion's recovery was all
the more remarkable given that his wife, Dimple, had suffered a rather
humiliating defeat in the 2009 Firozabad Lok Sabha by-election at the
hands of old loyalist-turned-Rahul protege Raj Babbar.
The defeat
was a reality check for the young leader. In early 2011, Akhilesh
commissioned a series of surveys about the party's image. "There was a
feeling of anger against BSP but at the same time there was a real fear
about goondaism (hooliganism) if SP came back," says a party MLA. That
was when Akhilesh realised he was fighting not just a battle at the
grassroots but also a war of perception.
For the first time in SP
history, interested candidates were asked to use application forms. "The
selection process began early last year. I got 4,000-5,000 forms," says
Akhilesh. The contestants were then interviewed by Akhilesh, his uncle
Ram Gopal Yadav and other party seniors. "We asked them what kind of
issues they would raise and how they expected to win. After that a list
was sent to Netaji who made the final decision," he says.
Akhilesh
kicked off the party campaign in September 2011 with a 250 km cycle
yatra to propagate the party symbol and motivate the youth. He also
repackaged the staid cycle symbol as an "umeed ki cycle (cycle of
hope)". "We wanted ours to be a campaign that spells out hope, not
negative ideas," he says. According to a colleague, he studied past
campaigns and was especially critical of NDA's 2004 slogan 'Bhay Ho' (Be
Afraid), a parody of UPA's 'Jai Ho'.
There is an uncanny
resemblance between his style and that of Rahul. Both work with a mix of
professionals and party workers, both are tech geeks and mouth the same
rhetoric of development. When the Congress sought SP's support on the
nuclear deal in 2008, Akhilesh met Rahul at a PWD guest house in Deoria.
They shared a cordial relationship. Both are foreign educated, Rahul
studied development economics at University of Cambridge, London, while
Akhilesh studied environmental engineering at Sydney though he is yet to
complete his MTech; first a love marriage to a Thakur girl, Dimple, and
then politics came in the way. That is where the similarities end.
"When
Rahul talks about the problems of farmers, it looks as if he is
reciting something he has been taught. When Akhilesh speaks, it seems as
if he knows the problems. Akhilesh samanya bhasha bolta hai, Rahul mein
abhi bachpana hai (Akhilesh speaks in a mature manner, Rahul is still a
bit childish)," says Bhupendre Sharma, a tea stall owner in Pratapgarh.
Unlike
Rahul whose campaign is a mix of national issues along with regional,
Akhilesh restricts himself to local issues. "Rahulji is a national
leader while Akhilesh is a regional one. Akhilesh is a pocket book
edition of our leader," says Lucknow-based Congress leader Surendra
Rajput, and quips, "pocket books always sell more".
What makes it
easier for the SP leader is that unlike the Congress, his party has a
cadre to support him. He is a natural with crowds. Even while sitting in
his bus (he undertook a 9,000 km kranti rath yatra from September to
January covering 215 constituencies), he is always communicating-whether
waving to the crowds outside or furiously typing smses on his
BlackBerry. Caught in a traffic jam at Barabanki, Akhilesh waved to an
astonished truck driver parked next to him, saying, "Hello truck driver
bhaiyaa" and asked him which village he belonged to, murmuring an aside,
"I bet he is from Kannauj (Akhilesh's constituency)."
Together,
the father and son pack a formidable electoral punch with Mulayam taking
on Mayawati while Akhilesh counters Rahul's youth appeal. But Akhilesh
knows that the only reason party seniors accept his diktat is because he
has his father's backing. Although this Samajwadi GenNext speaks fluent
English, having completed his graduation from University of Mysore, he
is careful about using Hindi as his preferred language. English news
channel anchors ask their questions in English, but are always given a
reply in Hindi.
Everyone wants to claim credit for a good idea.
Says former SP leader Amar Singh, "To change the anti-English,
anti-computer image of the party, it was I who had suggested that
Akhilesh be made state president." And adds, "He is a good boy but lacks
focus."
A few years ago, Mulayam may have agreed with his former
friend. An ardent soccer fan, Akhilesh seemed more at ease talking about
Manchester United than figuring out caste equations. A lot has changed
since then. Mulayam's son is not riding pillion anymore. Instead, he is
busy reinventing the (cycle) wheel.
source:http://news.in.msn.com/exclusives/it/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5898677